India Vs New Zealand 1st Test Drawn: Tremendous Save By The Kiwis On A Nail-biting Last Day!

The first Test match between India and New Zealand has ended in a thrilling draw in Kanpur today with the last pair of the Kiwis, Rachin Ravindra and Azaz Patel, holding on for more than 8 of the 20 mandatory overs on the fifth and last day. This draw reminds us of the great Sydney Save when India drew level with Australia in January this year and then went on to win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy under the stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane. If in that historic draw Ravichandran Ashwin crafted an unbeaten partnership with Hanuma Bihari for 40 overs lasting nearly 4 hours, here in Kanpur today debutant Rachin Ravindra played the ultimate survival game with the last man Azaz Patel. Rachin saw through an incredible 91 balls for his 18 runs with the three top Indian spinners in full flow. Although New Zealand at one stage were 79/1 Ravindra Jadeja (4/40) ignited the collapse along with Ashwin (3/35) and Axar (1/23) and when captain Williamson fell at the team score of 128/6 with more than 20 overs to go the game was totally in India’s favor. But the Kiwis never gave up fighting back even after the fall of the 9^thwicket and the agonized Indians, almost all of them in close catching positions, looked on helplessly as the Umpires finally stopped play for bad light after the completion of the minimum 90 overs. Chasing an improbable target of 284 runs for victory the Kiwis fully concentrated on defence from the beginning, losing the wicket of Young rather unfortunately in yesterday’s dying moments as they did not call for a review given out LBW to Ashwin.

 

The Test match has been a great display of competitive cricket on all five days with ups and downs for both teams. The highlight of the match is Shreyas Iyer who became the first Indian cricketer to score a century and a half-century on his Test debut and the third to score two half-centuries on debut after Dilwar Hussain in the year 1933-34 and Sunil Gavaskar in 1971. Taking on from Rohit Sharma in the T20I Series the stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and elected to bat first. India were able to put up a competitive 345 runs thanks largely to the efforts of Shreyas Iyer (105), Shubman Gill (52), Jadeja (50) and R Ashwin (38). For New Zealand Tim Southee took a fiver, Jamieson 3 scalps, and of the three Kiwi spinners only Azaz Patel managed to take 2 wickets.

 

New Zealand replied in a great style putting up 150 on the board without loss, and both Tim Latham (95) and Will Young (89) were unlucky not to get to their deserved centuries as Axar Patel ignited the Kiwi downslide taking a fiver, joined by Ashwin who took 3 and Jadeja 1, and the other wicket taken by pacer Umesh Yadav. Finally, New Zealand yielded a slender but advantageous lead of 49 runs to India, being all out for 296. In the second innings India started very badly being reduced to 51/5 as its top order failed miserably, and at that stage the Kiwis were in sight of a victory. However, again thanks to Iyer (65), Ashwin (32). Axar (28 not out) and a resurgent wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha (61 not out) India were out of the woods and were able to declare at 234/7 at close to stumps on the fourth day, setting a target of 284 runs for victory to New Zealand. Again, the Kiwi pacers Southee and Jamieson took 3 wickets each while spinner Azaz taking just one wicket.

 

The basic difference between the two teams is obviously the fast bowlers for the Kiwis and the class spinners for India while in the sectors of batting and fielding are evenly shared by the two teams except for the Kiwi collapse today with only Lathan scoring his second half-century. Perhaps, both of last Kiwi pair being left-hand batsmen posed a little disadvantage for the three spinners in the desperately thrilling moments in the last hour of the day. As 11 minutes for official end of play were remaining the inconsolable Indians hoped to bowl one or two overs more needing to get just one wicket; but like in all the four days of the match when bad light stopped play minutes before the official close the umpires did not allow it today either. In fact, the setting sun suddenly breaking out of the clouds allowed India to bowl the last three of the mandatory overs, but India failed to capitalize on it.

Although a result would have been most welcome in an absorbing Teat match like this there are hardly any ‘ifs and buts’ as both the teams had their advantages/disadvantages, and the Green Park pitch did not at all behave like a typical Indian turning pitch and has been playable enough till the last day. Of course, India were without a few of their stalwarts like the regular captain Virat Kohli, rested opener Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant, injured KL Rahul and the rested pacer duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami. Now, the decider second Test is to start at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai from the 3^rd of December. Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson would certainly be happy with this hard-earned draw and would go all out to seal the Series in Mumbai. This test series being part of the World Test Championship-21-22 both teams earn four points each from the drawn test. 

 

The comeback of Virat Kohli who has already been practicing in Mumbai poses a unique problem of selection. Who would Virat replace? Both Rahane and Pujara did not have a great match, but it is difficult to consider dropping anyone of them; because being the stand-in captain who has never lost a Test so far and being the regular vice-captain in Tests Rahane cannot possibly be dropped, and similarly, Pujara who has been anchoring the No.3 position stoutly in Tests is not likely to be dropped for the crunch match. Opener Mayank Agarwal also had a poor match; but dropping him would create a problem for the opening pair. Therefore, in all likelihood the record-making debutant Shreyas Iyer may eventually have to make way for Virat. It would indeed be a great sin to do so, but as pointed out by VVS Laxman in his expert chats on television that such selection dilemmas in the playing eleven in Indian cricket have always been solved essentially in the same fashion, one likes it or not.

Tick-Tock Suspense In India Amid The COVID-19 Omicron Variant Scare!

Photo: jagran.com

The Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution (TAG-VE) which is an independent group of experts that periodically monitors and evaluates the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and assesses its specific mutations had convened a meeting on 26 November 2021 to assess the emerging COVID-19 variant B.1.1.529 that was first reported to World Health Organization (WHO) from South Africa on November 24, 2021. The epidemiological situation in South Africa has been characterized by three distinct peaks in reported cases, the latest of which was predominantly the Delta variant that originated in India. In recent weeks, infections have increased steeply, coinciding with the detection of B.1.1.529 variant.

This variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning. Preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant, as compared to other Variants Of Concern (VOCs). The number of cases of this variant appears to be increasing in almost all provinces in South Africa. Current RT-PCR tests continue to detect this variant, pending genome sequencing confirmation.

Based on the evidence presented which is indicative of a detrimental change in COVID-19 epidemiology, the TAG-VE has advised WHO that this variant should be designated as a VOC, and the WHO, on Friday, has designated B.1.1.529 as a VOC, naming it as Omicron.

Countries have been asked by the global apex health body to do the following:

1. Enhance surveillance and genome sequencing efforts to better understand the circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants.

2. Submit complete genome sequences and associated metadata to a publicly available database.

3. Report initial cases/clusters associated with VOC infection to WHO through the IHR mechanism.

4. Individuals are reminded to take measures to reduce their risk of COVID-19, including proven public health and social measures such as wearing well-fitting masks, hand hygiene, physical distancing, improving ventilation of indoor spaces, avoiding crowded spaces, and getting vaccinated.

This scary warning has rudely awakened India from a comfortable slumber registering today the lowest number of active cases in over one and half years, and declining daily infections with only the state of Kerala still showing high figures in both infections and deaths. This situation is significant, because it's now more than three weeks since the biggest festival of Diwali. But the fact remains that laxity creeps in during the festive season in terms of low rates of testing, surveilance and other regulatory measures that implies that the displayed figures may not represent the reality. The most well-known and prominent expert voice, Dr. Randeep Guleria (Director, AIIMS, Delhi), has recently said in his regular interviews to news channels that this time last year too was similar, and surge of infections was taking place in Europe, and then the Delta explosion happened in India. He stressed that preparedness must always be there as we've been again watching multiple surges in Europe at the moment including Russia in particular and the possibility of the much-discussed Third Wave is still lurking in India. Now, the Omicron threat has made the situation here like a lull before the storm. 

The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, has responded immediately to WHO directions by holding a two-hour health preparedness meeting today morning. He has asked citizens to be proactive and follow all COVID norms. The Prime Minister requested the Aviation sector to review its decision to relax international air travel from December 15 this year and to test and quarantine all international travelers from countries at risk. He stressed upon the need to increase surveilance, strict containment in cluster infections and to ramp up genome sequencing, the same point being also raised by Dr. Guleria in an interview today. Modi also also asked for the full mobilization of the efforts by the states in a collective fight against the pandemic. Alerts have been issued to the health sector and the hospitals. 

The Omicron strain having more than 30 mutations within itself has already spread to countries like Belgium, Israel and Hong Kong. As it enters human bodies through the spike proteins it can be much more infectious and can evade vaccines or immunity. Almost all of the infected people in South Africa have got both doses of vaccination. However, enough data is still not there to say if this variant is deadlier than the Delta or if it can lead to severe disease, hospitalizations and deaths. As a hopeful development the Moderna vaccine producer has said that they can come ready with a booster dose in a few weeks' time to effectively tackle Omicron. 

Many European countries already under surges of Delta infections and having the irony of facing protest-demonstrations against COVID controls, and the US have started imposing travel restrictions for South Africa and other African nations. So then, it is tick-tock suspense on the future course of the pandemic in a relaxed and election bound India. Indian citizens including the politicians and the leaders themselves would be better advised to not let down their guards and follow all norms as sincerely as possible. Another disaster like the Second Wave must be avoided at all costs. One must understand the COVID-19 virus is not going to give up easily even after nearly two years, and on the contrary, this virus is busy adding more ammunition to its armour to go on launching merciless assaults on humankind. In Karnataka, there are cluster infections in students after the reopening of educational institutions and most of the infected have been double-vaccinated. It is imperative now to genome sequence their samples as intensively as possible. 

Vaccination of the under-18 should also be given the highest priority. 

 

Movie The Terminal: Steven Spielberg’s Rare Comedy Flick Rediscovered!

I consider it a happy accident that I found this movie titled ‘The Terminal’ (2004) directed by Steven Spielberg on a streaming platform. My surprise was beyond measure when I saw the genre written in the details of the movie—comedy! Well, it need not simply be my ignorance about this great filmmaker; because in most of Spielberg’s bios or filmography the said movie is never highlighted or talked about even though the movie was a commercial success. ‘The Terminal’ tells a delightful story of a character called Viktor Navorski from Easter Europe (indicating the Russian Republic) who arrives at New York John F Kennedy airport on a private mission only to find that in the meantime his native (fictional) country Kakrojhia had undergone a military coup and a new government had taken over. Since the US was yet to recognize the new government Viktor’s passport had become invalid and the airport supervisor took away all his documents including the passport refusing to allow him enter New York city or to go back home. Viktor Navorski, played by none other than the greatest of actors Tom Hanks, cannot speak much English and goes through a series of hilarious misfortunes during his nine-month stay at the terminal. We’ll come back to the movie a bit later.

 

Steven Spielberg had become a household name in the US after his blockbuster ‘Jaws’ in 1975; and if he was still not a household name in most other countries like India his ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ in 1977, ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ in 1981, ‘ET the Extra Terrestrial’ in 1982, his creation of the franchise ‘Indiana Jones’ from 1984 and his two huge productions ‘Jurassic Park’ and ‘Schindler’s List’ in 1993 have made him more than that, almost a living legend of world cinema. Spielberg is said to be the most commercially successful director of Hollywood till date with almost each of his films achieving box-office hit status, critical acclaim and Academy Awards nominations and awards. He has earned three Oscars two of which are as Best Director for ‘Schindler’s List’ and ‘Saving Private Ryan’ (1998, probably the greatest war epic ever made in world cinema) and one Best Picture Oscar for ‘Schindler’s List’, apart from 7 nominations as Best Director. His movies have earned an incredible 133 Academy nominations and 34 Oscars in various categories, apart from the BAFTA and Golden Globe awards. His other major awards include Cecil B DeMille Award and the AFI Life Achievement Award. Steven Spielberg at 74 years of age now has not retired yet and still making movies taking temporary breaks at times.

 

Watching the ‘Jaws’ and ‘Jurassic Park’ had been a most exhilarating experience for most Indians like me and through such films we could understand the painstaking efforts, often risking his own life in the difficult shooting, taken by the director—no doubt at all that he made his first movie experiment at the tender age of 12 thus dedicating his whole life to the art and making world cinema all the more richer as well as entertaining. After working for a few years in the New Hollywood era that included several Television Episodes and minor films for Universal Studios he got his game-changing break in ‘Jaws’ in 1975 when he was just over the age of 30. Spielberg, rightfully, refused to make a sequel to ‘Jaws’ as those sequels made by other filmmakers could never match the unique original that still sends shivers down the spine. He did make a sequel though for ‘Jurassic Park’ titled ‘The Lost World—Jurassic Park’ in 1997 as the writer of the original came up with his second book, and that movie was also a commercial and critical success.

 

It somewhat follows from the narrative above that most of us always considered Spielberg as a serious filmmaker who earned huge commercial success too for his universally appealing storytelling and dedicated efforts. We could never possibly imagine he could make a movie in the lighter genre of comedy. Perhaps, it was just an experiment for this great filmmaker, and he did it beautifully too—getting inspired by a true event in the Paris airport, creating interesting characters including a romantic angle and erecting a huge filmset in the lines of the JFK airport of New York.  

 

Now, coming back to ‘The Terminal’, the 2-hour and 9 minutes movie does not have a single dull moment tickling your funny bones all the time with Tom Hanks stumbling along with his brilliantly cultivated broken Russian or Bulgarian English while handling the obsessed airport supervisor, the security guards and the various desk officials. His character gets emotionally involved too with an airhostess played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, an Indian cleaner, a lady desk official with whom a canteen boy was romantically attached and various other delightful characters and episodes. Hanks’s character Viktor also helps a native of his region out of a tangle by his intelligent use of interpretation deceiving the aghast supervisor. The film also keeps up the suspense on what exists in the tin box that Viktor frequently takes out fondly that the supervisor who has been bent upon getting rid of him either to the police or to the FBI wants to know desperately. Such delicious elements had better be left for all those who would also like to rediscover this comedy-drama movie made by one of the legendary directors-producers-writers of world cinema. 

Why Life Certificates For Pensioners At All?

I remember taking my father, most probably in 1989, to his pension issuing bank branch thinking that he must have had some banking business to do. Arriving at the branch we entered the chamber of the bank manager whom my father knew well. After the customary ‘hi, Hellos’ there followed a casual chat, and then we left. I was curious as I saw none of the usual withdrawals or deposits or anything of the banking sort done there. So, I asked my father what was the purpose of the visit to which my father, with an ironic smile, said that he had to ‘show his face’ to the bank proving that he was still alive and kicking. Yes, every retiring or superannuating person from central or state governments or any other government organizations in India (I’m not aware of procedures followed in other countries) have to ‘show his/her fact’ to the issuing bank in the month of November every year mandatorily so that his/her pension is not interrupted. This is called Life Certificate to guarantee the continuation of the pension. I did not like it from that time—why to force people, some of them being very old and with illnesses, to compulsorily visit the bank just to prove s/he is alive. Why at all?

 

Over the decades there have been various certificate forms to be signed by the pensioner physically present at the banks apart from showing the face to familiar bank managers to generate the life certificates. With the launch of Jeevan Pramaan in November 2014 (a site and also a mobile app for pensioners to generate life certificates digitally) and the launch of Digital India to improve internet connectivity in the rural areas the Life Certificate exercise became digital and Aadhaar card linked. The Jeevan Pramaan (evidence of being alive) site is friendly guiding the registered users to get to know about generating life certificates from their homes. However, it is not that easy as it sounds.

 

When it was my turn to superannuate, in the month of November itself in 2019, I had to know all about this procedure notwithstanding my inherent dislike. I asked several of my retired colleagues about how to do it. They all said that it could be done online now. Therefore, in November 2020, with COVID-19 restrictions very much in force, I tried to do it online. I registered in Jeevan Pramaan with the normal OTP business and became a user. But, I found that to generate the life certificate I must buy a biometric device from outside, register that with the authority and to attach it to my computer or smartphone in order to authenticate the application with fingerprint o iris scan. Finding it a cumbersome process I gave it up.

 

I had then finally to go to my pension-issuing bank branch and was horrified to find queues of eagerly waiting old and frail pensioners without any social distancing and the process was extremely slow. I had no other alternative but to join the queue hoping for the best, even though I knew one always-helpful lady executive there very well; because I did not want to jump the queue considering the fact that most of the people there were much older than me. As luck would have it, the lady noticed me waiting and fidgeting impatiently due to violations of norms by the very people whom the governments always asked to stay at home safely, and called me over to her counter. I produced my Aadhaar card, my pension book containing the Pension Pay Order no. and gave these to her. It was done under five minutes taking my fingerprint on the attached device. Relieved, but with sense of guilt seeing the older people still waiting, I walked away with a copy of the life certificate she gave me.

 

Now, to the question of why at all these certificates are needed. Well, it can be said that without this ‘proof’ the death of any pensioner may not be reported to the bank in which case the next of kin would go on drawing the full pension, perhaps indefinitely; but that is not possible for two reasons: first, most bank branches have a locality-based clientele and the word-by-mouth always reaches them; second, most of the families losing the primary pensioner would consider completing the process of the ‘family pension’ issue more important. However, this problem of possible fraudulent practice cannot be resolved by the life certificates. Because, the certificate is generated on a particular date of November when the holder is declared to be alive, now if, unfortunately, the pensioner dies the next day or days later the bank would face exactly the same problem of getting the information.

 

Majority of the Indian population cannot afford a smartphone or laptops or desktops, forget about the biometric devices, and despite Digital India the rural areas still suffer from the connectivity hassles as have been proved in the lockdowns with most of the rural students getting deprived of online classes. Besides, many among those who can afford the devices financially do not possess the technical knowhow. The net result of all this is that during the month of November every year the bank branches or the Jeevan Pramaan centers are always crowded with old people which is unpardonable not only in pandemic times, but also otherwise, forcing them to come out of homes—some tottering with sticks, some frail and weak and some with illnesses.

 

So why should the life certificates be compulsory or for that matter necessary at all? Why should it not be scrapped like the Modi Government has done with so many archaic laws or practices? The banking business has been extensively personalized in recent years with millions of phone calls made every day to customers on various schemes or benefits. So, why don’t they just make it routine to redirect some of these calls to their pension-drawing customers, maybe twice or thrice in a year as the most effective way of finding out if they are still alive or not? The inherent problems of generating life certificates have also helped the emergence of ‘agents’ who are ready to come to your home to do it on the spot for you, of course, for a handsome amount ejected out of you. This is one more of the undesirable results of the unnecessary practice of life certificates. I’m not suggesting that people should not acquire new and newer knowledge about easier digital ways; I’m only saying this particular practice does not serve any purpose.

India Clean Sweep Paytm T20I Series 3-0 As Their Bowlers Help Annihilate New Zealand By 73 Runs In Kolkata!

We mentioned in the last piece about the new T20I cricket captain Rohit Sharma winning the toss in contrast to Virat Kohli! And what a funny irony that in the third and last T20I match in Kolkata today in which India annihilated New Zealand by 73 runs Rohit made a hat-trick of winning the toss in sharp contrast to Kohli’s hat-trick in losing the toss in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2021. Now, this phenomenon is set to haunt the hardcore Indian fans with the eternal question: had Virat retired from the captaincy before the World Cup and Rohit taken over, perhaps, the scenario and the excruciatingly painful results would have been different. Perhaps, again, the demotion of an opener of Rohit’s record to the No.3 position in the crucial match against New Zealand could have been prevented, and the Pandya-obsession could have been avoided. Wishful thinking, you may say so! But, these are important observations that you cannot deny!

 

Anyway, after winning the toss this time Rohit decided to bat first—a decision perhaps prompted by the new head coach Rahul Dravid who knows the Eden Gardens pitch very well crafting there the historic partnership of 376 runs with VVS Laxman in 2001 against Australia winning the Test Series 2-1and maybe Rohit wanted to experiment with batting first as he may have thought that he could not expect to go on winning the toss forever—because the Eden pitch could be turning more later in the evening. However, India team management decided to rest Ashwin and brought in the nearly-forgotten leg-spinner Yazvendra Chahal in his place; India also rested KL Rahul in view of the coming Test series and gave another chance to opener Ishan Kishan. New Zealand rested its standing skipper Tim Southee on workload management ground and brought in Lokie Ferguson. For this match Mitchell Santner was assigned the captain’s duty.

 

The opener duo of Rohit-Ishan made an explosive start putting up 69 runs in the powerplay of 6 overs with Rohit scoring most of the runs racing to his second consecutive half-century (56 in 31)) in just 27 balls with three towering sixes. Unfortunately, apart from the skipper no other recognized batsmen could contribute much as three quick wickets fell to spinner Santner (3/27) in the forms of Ishan (29), Suryakumar Yadav (0) and Rishabh Pant (4). Soon, with the fall of Rohit Sharma to spinner Sodhi India were reduced to 103 for 4 in the 12^th over. After a brief partnership between the Iyer-duo—Shreyas Iyer (25) and Venkatesh Iyer (20)—India seemed to be in the same pattern of the batting-first side ending up at less than 170-180 runs as their 6^th wicket fell at 140 in the 17^th over. But thanks to the bowlers Harshal Patel (18 in 11) and a big-hitting Deepak Chahar (21 in just 8 balls) India could finally put up 184/7, the highest team score of the series.

 

As Rahul Dravid would have expected the Indian spinners made mincemeat of the Kiwis. After a briefly breezy start in the first two overs wickets started falling in heaps as left-arm spinner Axar Patel took over and struck in his first ball getting the prize wicket of the danger man Daryl Mitchell (5), then the scalp of Mark Chapman for a duck in the last ball of the same over and then striking again in his second over clean bowling Glen Phillips for a duck again. The backbone of the visitors thus crushed, New Zealand could never recover. Chahal proved to be a little expensive, but he took the valuable wicket of Guptill. Watching the ball turning Rohit tried part-time spinner Venkatesh Iyer who also rewarded him with a wicket. Harshal Patel, continuing from his previous debut-match, captured 2 wickets apart from his batting performance. Finally, New Zealand folded up for a sorry 111 runs all out, meekly giving India a huge victory by 73 runs and whitewashed 3-0 in the series. Apart from Guptill (51), Tim Seifert (17) and Ferguson (14), no other New Zealander could cross the double-digit mark.

 

Now, over to the classic and the original format of cricket, that is Test Cricket. The first of the 2-match Test Series is going to start from the 25^th of November 2021 in Kanpur. And naturally, there will be lot of changes in both the teams with the short-format specialists leaving the teams to a much-deserved rest. While the regular Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson is coming back to join his team Virat Kohli is not available for at least the first Test in and Ajinkya Rahane will lead India. With Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel the third spinner is most likely to be bowling all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.

India Beat New Zealand By 7 Wickets, Win Paytm T2OI Series With 2-0 Lead!

India have won the Paytm 3-match T20 International Series beating New Zealand by 7 wickets in the second match in Ranchi today thus taking an unassailable 2-0 lead. In a rather funny contrast to Virat Kohli making a hat-trick of losing tosses in the T20 World Cup-2021 the new captain Rohit Sharma won his second consecutive toss in this series after Jaipur so far; however, this evening the dew factor was already there with winter season setting in the eastern region and it did not give India an undue advantage while chasing. India made one change bringing in IPL-sensation medium-fast bowler Harshal Patel replacing Mohammed Siraj while New Zealand made three changes—bowling all-rounder James Neesham, pacer Adam Milne and spinner Ish Sodhi, replacing Rachin Ravindra, Todd Astler and Lockie Ferguson.

 

Put into bat, New Zealand openers Martin Guptill (31 off just 15 balls) and Daryl Mitchell (31 in 28 balls) made an explosive start scoring 52 runs in 5 overs and 64 runs in the powerplay of 6 overs, of course losing the wicket of Guptill to Chahar at the team score of 48 in the 5^th over. The first over was an eventful one: the first ball going for a four through the slips nearly caught; the second ball hit for another four; in the third ball a high but easy catch dropped by KL Rahul who later made amends by taking a good catch to dismiss Mark Chapman off Axar Patel; and 14 runs were scored by Guptill in that over by Bhuvaneshwar Kumar. The second over by Deepak Chahar was hit for 12 runs. The spinners, Axar and Ashwin, had to be called in along with Harshal Patel. As New Zealand tried to keep up the momentum they started losing wickets at regular intervals thanks to some tight bowling by the trio and also Chahar coming back to take a wicket in his third over. Thanks to Phillips (34 in 21 balls) the Kiwis finally was able to put up a rather not-good-enough total of 153/6. Big hitter Neesham was a huge disappointment as apart from just 3 runs in 12 balls he only managed to break his bat before getting out. Harshal on his debut captured 2/25 in four overs while all four other bowlers took a wicket each.

India too made a solid start with their openers Rahul and Rohit putting up 50 runs in the 7^th over and at 63/0 in 9 overs it was a tad slow and time to speed up the scoring to which Rohit responded immediately with a huge six off Santner, plundering 16 runs in that over, Rohit being also dropped off a skier by Boult in the 5^thball. Dropping catches has been a feature of this series affecting both the teams in Jaipur as well as in Ranchi. There was no looking back from that point as Rahul raced to his half-century and Rohit not far behind. The duo put up the 100-run partnership in the 12^th over, threatening to make the match a one-sided affair. Rahul, trying to hit another six, fell for 65 in 49 balls to captain Southee at the team score of 117/1 in the 14^th over.

 

Venkatesh Iyer came in to join Rohit and it was a good move to give the former a kind of grooming for batting with the hosts having an easy equation for victory. Rohit, in full flow, reached his half-century in 35 balls with a huge six off the Milne, and in the next over the India skipper fell at the same score of 55 to Tim Southee offering a rather tame catch with India needing just 20 runs in 28 balls. Suryakumar Yadav came in went for just 1run to Southee again giving him all the 3 wickets to fall. Suddenly there was a twist in the tale, India needing 17 in 24 losing 3 wickets quickly. Rishabh Pant settled the issue in the 18^th over bowled by Neesham by hitting 2 sixes of the first 2 balls and India cruising to victory by 7 wickets with 14 balls to spare. In all, a healthy beginning for the new skipper Rohit Sharma winning a series leading from the front, regrouping after the disastrous World Cup under a new coach Rahul Dravid. Now, the 3^rd T20I in Kolkata this Sunday will be a mere formality and more rookies are likely to be tried, but Dravid aims at winning every match which is the right spirit.

 

A point must be made here about the crowds. As the pandemic seemed to have stabilized in India the BCCI has allowed 100% capacity crowd to be allowed inside the stadiums after checking vaccination or RT-PCR negative certificates at entry both in Jaipur and Ranchi, and like in Jaipur the  Ranchi stadium was chock-a-block with spectators most of whom did not bother wearing masks. It becomes a joke to expect social distancing once you allow 100% capacity crowds. In fact, a worried advocate filed a PIL in Jharkhand High Court for the postponement of the Ranchi match demanding 50% capacity crowd to be maintained for entry. This worry cannot be dismissed easily due to the behavior patterns of the COVID-19 virus and the experience of Europe under a heavy surge of infections again, particularly Russia, Germany, Netherlands and Austria. Due to a careless Covidiotic behavior in the beginning of the year saw India suffer from the most horrible second wave and one cannot yet be certain about more waves in future.

Prime Minister Speaks: And Then The Three Farm Laws To Be Repealed!

In a totally unexpected development, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi in an address to the nation early morning today has, on the occasion of Guru Nanak Birth anniversary called Guru Purab or Prakash Parv (a holy festival observed by the Sikhs on the birth/demise anniversaries of the their Saints/Gurus), announced the Government’s decision to repeal the three controversial Farm Laws the constitutional formalities of which are going to be completed in the winter session of the Indian Parliament starting from 29^th November 2021. The Prime Minister, though, stoutly defended the Farm Laws saying that these reforms were brought in favor of the farmers, particularly the small and marginal farmers; however, he admitted that the laws could not convince sections of the farmers and dissatisfied cultivators cannot be left behind. Narendra Modi added that perhaps the government’s ‘dedication’ to uplift the cultivators of the country was not enough. The Prime Minister also promised to revamp and strengthen the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) of crops mechanism by appointing a committee of state representatives, farmers, agricultural experts and economists, and this step was also to be decided in the Parliament session.

 

The Farmers’ Movement has been going on for nearly a year with thousands of them camping in the outskirts of capital Delhi and suffering through all four seasons, many of them perishing in the camps. They have been observing various programs of highway blockades; rail blockades; Delhi marches during one of which on the Republic Day of 26^th January this year there was a burst of unprecedented, arguably unintended, violence in the capital; marches to the Parliament; Bharat Bandhs; and so on. Around 11 rounds of talks with the Modi government failed to resolve the issue and the government allegedly tried to repress the movement in various ways like trying to win over factions to support the laws or taking tough measures in the areas of the camps and so on. The trust-deficit of the farmers in the Government of India has worsened so much that even now, at this welcome announcement, the top leadership of the farmers says that the movement will continue till the last nail on the cancelation of the three laws gets hammered in during the Parliament as promised.

 

Be it for the forthcoming assembly elections in five states including the crucial states of the definitive (for General Elections) Uttar Pradesh and Punjab where the BJP is still a minor player even after the Amarinder Singh defection from the Congress, or be it the final realization of the Prime Minister about the intrinsic fears lurking in the provisions of the laws this huge announcement is indeed very welcome—basically because no nation can survive for long keeping the food-givers unhappy and agitating; for the farmers it comes as the final victory; the success of democratic movements; and for the BJP a favorable factor to seal the assembly elections. As has been hailed all around the decision is indeed a political ‘masterstroke’ on the eve of the assembly elections early next year, suddenly taking away the main vote plank from the opposition political parties, particularly for the Congress tactics in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. The opposition has largely welcomed the step calling it a victory for the farmers and that it marks the end of the ruling party’s ‘arrogance’.

 

Agrarian reforms have always been a contentious issue in most of the nations of the world, particularly India where agriculture is still the mainstay of the country’s economy. Attempts at reforming the farming sector have been going on since the British period and the post-independence era in India where many of the reforms proved to be big blunders while some of these seemed to have benefited the farmers. Most of the nations of the world have been following a capitalist form of agriculture with a regular mechanism of giving subsidies to help the land-holding phenomena of farming survive, and the concept of ‘cooperative farming’ in the most inclusive sense still remains a dream.

 

The Prime Minister while stoutly defending the three Farm Laws failed to mention the fact that many of the top Indian economists and agriculturists were bitterly divided over the issue—the main fear being the big capitalists taking over farming putting the farmers at their mercy for the MSPs or guaranteed prices and ending the land ownership cultivation of the small and marginal farmers. Yet, inequalities in the farming community continue to exist with some of them being affluent enjoying the benefits of technology while most of the small and marginal farmers continue to struggle at a subsistence level. Therefore, truly convincing and inclusive reforms are always welcome.

 

In any case, we heartily welcome this big announcement by the Prime Minister largely for the fact that one of the longest ever agitations, particularly by the food-givers, is finally going to end. Debates must go on for reforms and one of the main allegations of the opposition parties and other experts and leaders had been the fact that there was no debate before passing these crucial Farm Laws in Parliament. The target or the task is extremely difficult no doubt, because in a democracy it is well-nigh impossible to satisfy all stakeholders with a particular policy; however as we have said the efforts must be intensified democratically taking all into consideration.

T20I Cricket: Rohit’s India Hiccup Their Way To Beat Southee’s New Zealand, Lead 1-0!

India, under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma and in the new coach Rahul Dravid’s first match, India have defeated New Zealand in the first T20 International match in Jaipur on 17^th of November 2021 by 5 wickets with just two balls to spare, and taken 1-0 lead in the 3-match T20I series. India without ex-captain Virat Kohli and several key players being rested, and similarly, New Zealand without their regular captain Kane Williamson opting out have fought out the match almost as equals despite India having the advantage of winning the toss. The progresses of the two team’s respective innings also have some similarities that we will mention as we go on, though briefly.

 

Put into bat New Zealand started badly losing Daryl Mitchell in the very first over for a duck to Bhuvaneshwar Kumar who seemed to have found his form as India’s strike bowler. However, from that point a healthy partnership between Guptill and M Chapman grew and at 110/1 in the 14^th over New Zealand seemed to be aiming at a 190+ total. At that point R Ashwin who was notoriously not included in the Indian squad in the vital first two matches of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2021, struck two vital blows removing both of Chapman (63) and G Phillips for a duck reducing the visitors to 110/3. Guptill (70) fell to rookie pacer Deepak Chahar in the 18^thover as the Kiwis lost the momentum and could set up only a fighting target of 164 for India to win in 20 overs.

 

In the Indian chase, the hosts, in a similar way of the visitors, lost KL Rahul (15) relatively early (of course, after a 50-run opening partnership) and then a good 3^rd wicket partnership grew between Rohit (48) and Suryakumar Yadav (63) who was also dropped in the crucial World Cup match against the Kiwis, and at 109/1 in the 14^thover India seemed to be cruising to an easy victory. But then, Trent Boult struck two vital blows removing both of them as the hosts started struggling to get the runs flowing. Rishabh Pant kept his end safe with fits and starts even as Shreyas Iyer (5) and the IPL-found Venkatesh Iyer (4) fell cheaply with India finally needing 5 runs from 4 balls thanks to a wide by Mitchell and with Axar Patel for company Pant (17) finally hit the winning boundary to see India home in a prestige match for both new captain Rohit and new coach Dravid, also in view of India’s humiliating loss to the Kiwis at the Group-B league of the T20 World Cup. Rohit was in full flow continuing from the World Cup, but his not crossing the half-century mark created all the hiccups for India’s win. This is an area of concern for India with their batsmen yet to find a clue to tackle the NZ pacers, even in the much friendlier home turfs.

 

New Zealand, the runners-up of the World Cup and without Kane Williamson plus a pacer for this T20I series, is still a very tough team and the re-grouping India is not going to find it easy to overcome them in the remaining two matches in Ranchi on 19^th and in Kolkata on the 21^st of November. This is good news for Indian cricket lovers to watch some competitive matches live in the stadiums after being deprived of the same for nearly one and half years as Cricket New Normal took over. Both Kohli and Williamson are likely to join their teams for the 2-match Test Series to follow.

 

In the meantime the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2022 has been announced with Australia as the host and Melbourne to stage the Final on 13^th of November 2022 and apart from Sydney four more cities including Brisbane and Perth have been added as the 6 venues. The back-to-back World Cup tournament in the shortest format is set to start from 17^thof October 2022. Eight teams including India have already qualified for the Super-12 stage and the rest 4 teams will have to be selected from the qualifying round. Unfortunately, there is no indication of making any changes in the format and the number of games to be played. The toss remains too. Changing ‘batsman’ to ‘batter’ is only of etymological interest. 

The Warner-Marsh Duo Gifts Australia Their First Ever T20 World Cup, New Zealand Remains Runners-Up Again!

Australia added to its feathers the first ever T20 World Cup by prevailing over New Zealand by  8 wickets in the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2021 in Dubai today. The final match has also turned out to be not as absorbing as the two semi-finals with the Australian chase seeming quite easy and the inevitable ‘toss advantage’ seemed to have sealed the match in their favor. As we have seen the team winning the toss invariably chooses to field first, restricts the opposition to less than 180 and wins the match by hauling up the target chasing with the dew or any favoring factor. Of course, in the semi-finals it was Daryl Mitchell’s charge at the death that won it for New Zealand against England and a similar finishing act was carried out by Matthew Wade for Australia upsetting a shocked Pakistan at the death. However, we had said earlier that the chasing team always overhauls the target, somehow, as has been observed throughout this tournament. This important final of a World Cup truly turns out to be another strong cause for tossing away the toss. This is not to deny Australia the credit for its professionalism and aggressiveness  whenever needed in crunch matches.

 

As in the semi-final against Pakistan Australia lost captain Aaron Finch early in the final too, but the team accelerated thanks to some real hitting by David Warner and Mitchell Marsh. Australia hauled up the first fifty runs in the sixth over while New Zealand took as many as nine overs. Thanks to the duo the ‘big brother’ fully dominated the proceedings as no Kiwi ‘kid’ bowler could control the free flow of runs all around the park. Warner raced to his 50 with a towering six off Neesham in 34 balls at the team score of 95/1 in the 11^th over, almost cruising to victory at that stage. As a huge relief for the Kiwis Warner (53, declared the Player of the Tournament) fell soon to Boult in the 13^th over, perhaps a tad too late for a comeback. Mitchell Marsh (77 not out in 50 balls) joined by Glen Maxwell (28 not out in 18 balls) treated the Kiwi bowlers with disdain hauling up the target with 7 balls to spare, Maxwell hitting the winning boundary.

 

Earlier, put into bat and thanks to Williamson’s masterful innings of 85 off 34 balls, the highest individual score by a captain in this World Cup, New Zealand set a target of 173 runs to win for Australia, and it was only a fighting total which their bowlers were miserably unable to defend. Except for Guptill (28) and Phillips (18) no NZ batsmen could contribute much while they had the launching pad for a 190+ total; the hero of the semi-final Daryl Mitchell could only score 11 runs in 8 balls and was the first to go. The last two overs were real dampeners for NZ despite the big-hitting partner of Mitchell in the semi-final, James Neesham, being very much around, finally remaining not out with just 13 runs. For Australia Hazelwood found his touch and captured three wickets for only 16 in 4 overs while all other Aussie bowlers were hit around the park, most surprisingly strike bowler Starc was hit for 60 runs in his 4 overs.

 

The jinx of ‘so close yet so far’ remains for the most deserving and the World Test Champion team of New Zealand still without any of the ICC World Cups in the shorter formats. They came very close to winning the ODI (one-day international) World Cup Finals of 2015 against Australia and of 2019 against England, but finally losing under controversial circumstances in the latter. Today, in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2021 final too New Zealand failed to prevail over big brother Australia. They again turned up as the runners-up yet again in an ICC World Cup tournament.

 

Thus, curtains on the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2021, a tournament scheduled to be held in Australia in 2020, venues changed twice and finally unfolding in Oman and UAE, after nearly a month of competitive cricket involving national pride, but impacted to some extent by low-scoring slow pitches and the advantage for the toss-winning team. There’d be another T20 World Cup in Australia in 2022, and hopefully, the pandemic permitting, that will be much tougher, competitive and absorbing. For the moment New Zealand is coming to India this month for 3 T20I matches and 2-match Test Series. Rohit Sharma will lead the team, several star players rested including Kohli, in the T20I matches starting from the 17^th of November 2021. It is not yet clear about the captain of the Test series; if Kohli continues to be rested then Ajikya Rahane who led India to a spectacular victory against Australia in Australia is likely to be given the cap.

T20 World Cup Final: Australia Vs New Zealand!

After many twists and turns and tosses the two neighbors down under have come around to meet each other in the Final of the ICC T20 Men’s World Cup-2021 to be held on Sunday, 14^thNovember in Dubai. Australia, the Group-1 second-spot holder today became the first team of the tournament to beat Pakistan by 5 wickets with one over to spare in a thriller of a second semi-final match in  Dubai. Pakistan captain Babar Azam lost the toss to Australia captain Finch this time in this crucial encounter and was naturally put into bat. The Pakistan fans crowding the stadium in huge numbers were in tremendous spirits witnessing their team winning all the matches with ease and brilliance with good consistent batting and having perhaps the best bowling attack of the tournament.  

 

The in-form opener duo Azam and Rizwan made an electrifying start firing all cylinders as Pakistan tried their best to neutralize the loss of the toss and the possible dew factor later in the evening. There were three good knocks: 67 runs by Rizwan, 55 not out by Zaman and 39 by Babar. They put up a challenging 177 target to win for Australia, but perhaps not enough. A target of 190+ looked possible as Pakistan had wickets in hand, but failures of Asif and Malik made the total fall short by at least 15 runs. The Aussie bowlers were delivering too many loose balls, no-balls, wides and mostly not able to maintain tight length helping Pakistan accelerate. The way Hazelwood and Cummins were hit around the park with a lot of ease reflected the determination of the Pak batsmen to set up a challenging target and enter the final where they were to meet New Zealand whom they had beaten already in a Group-2 match.    

 

The Aussies started badly, losing captain Finch in the first over to the fiery Shaheen Afridi and Pakistan prevented them from racing away to a good powerplay score. Only from the 4^th over David Warner and Marsh started playing attacking shots achieving the 50-run mark in the 6^th over. Marsh soon fell for 28 runs to Shadab Khan and the latter (4/26) with his deadly spin went on to capture the quick wickets of Smith (5), Maxwell (7) and Warner (49) reducing Australia to 96/5 in the 13^thover turned the match almost conclusively in Pakistan’s favor. And then, the incredible partnership happened between Stoinis (40 not out in 31 balls) and Matthew Wade (41 not out in just 17 balls) which was rather slow in the beginning, but picked steadily bringing back the momentum. Needing 18 runs from the last two overs Wade finished the match in the 19^th over by hitting three intelligent sixes off the bowling of none other than Shaheen Afridi. However, the initial charge and anchoring of David Warner must be credited.

 

Pakistan who finished the group stage unbeaten lost the semi-final, but not without a great fight and a strong will to reach the final and win the Cup for the second time. India needs to learn from Pakistan as their batsmen focused on attacking the bowlers fearlessly while the Indian batsmen were mostly on the defensive which was made worse by poor team selection. Australia never won the T20 World Cup, and now they have a big chance of winning by prevailing over their kid brother in the Final on 14^thNovember in Dubai. However, New Zealand is no pushover. They were the runners-up in the ICC World Cup-2019 and unfortunately lost to England in that controversial final; but in the first semi-final they avenged it by preventing England reach the final this time.

 

So, Matthew Wade took his team into the final at the death like Daryl Mitchell did for New Zealand against a very good team of England with his incredible late charge of 72 runs off just 47 balls. This has been the advantage of winning the toss, because the chasing team somehow gets to the target after restricting the opposition to less than 180 in most encounters. However, in this match the Aussie tactics were a bit inexplicable: first, their famed fast bowlers kept on bowling wayward, never bowling to their potential and about the spinners the less said the better; second, several Australian batsmen surrendered meekly, never looking like taking efforts; and thirdly and most prominently, Warner did not ask for a review of his caught behind decision as the replays later showed the ball did not touch the bat at all.

Cricket: Should The Toss Be Tossed Away?

Although the practice of tossing the coin before a cricket Test match by the two captains is as ancient as the game, in recent times we have seen a huge lot of cases where the toss winning team puts the losing team at distinct disadvantages, including an evolving negative mindset. In some cricket playing nations like England, Australia, the West Indies and New Zealand where the focus is on grooming fast bowlers pitches with grass are prepared and once the host team wins the toss in a day match they put the opposition into bat, particularly if the morning is cloudy apart from the moisture fresh on the grass, and obviously the visiting team suffers not at all due to their fault or their weaknesses. The reverse of this is true in countries, particularly India or Sri Lanka, where the focus is always on the spinners, grassless slower-flat pitches are prepared and the toss-winning team naturally bats first, because in most cases the pitch begins to turn dangerously from the 3^rd or the 4^th day onward; the grotesquely turning pitches in India are, no doubt, in some decline after the advent of the shortest-format Indian Premiere League (IPL) in 2009 for obvious reasons. Even in that case of the IPL the toss-losing teams are at a disadvantage, because the winning teams always prefer to chase and as seen in India, anything above 300 also can be chased successfully at the flat batting tracks.

 

This explains why India had been losing most of the away series in the past decades and winning most of the home series, of course in recent years only, due to more thought and efforts being given to groom more fast bowlers. In the seventies and the eighties in home Test series we had witnessed the unique spectacle of watching the one or at most two medium fast bowlers in the Indian eleven bowling just one or two overs at the start of the fourth innings with even the living legend Sunil Gavaskar at times coming in to bowl the early overs and always hitting the ball hard on the ground so that the famous spinners could take over as soon as possible. Such a scenario has been getting extinct since the late nineties; however, the toss disadvantage remains as ever, in all formats of the game.

 

The day-night games, introduced for express commercial purposes, the scene of the toss disadvantage gets more serious. As the autumn season starts, the traditional cricket season through to the winter, dew forms later in the evening. All cricketers/commentators/cricket lovers know very well that the dew makes the ball slippery, making it very difficult for the bowlers, both pacers and spinners, to grip the ball well and direct its trajectory as the bowlers would want. Therefore, the toss-winning team always puts in the opposition to bat first, as is most disturbingly witnessed in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2021 in Oman and UAE. From the matches of the IPL-2021 shifted to UAE midway we had seen the slow pitches there that makes batting difficult in the first innings and makes bowling difficult in the second innings, invariably favoring the toss-winning-chasing teams, particularly if the match involved two top competitive teams and not the weaker teams or the minnows as opposition, and most of the matches ending as low-scoring and often one-sided ones.

 

Many disappointed fans from India, for that matter for South Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh too, would have loved to watch what their teams could have done had they won the toss and chased in those crucially important matches they lost perhaps due to, to some significant extent, the loss of the toss. Since it involved India, a team from the richest cricket board of the world and its strategic business interests globally, the hue and cry over the ‘toss’ is getting noisier and nastier. However, as we have illustrated earlier the toss does affect the matches and does do harm to the toss-losing teams, more if they are almost equals as per the International Cricket Council (ICC) indices and rankings. Now, we’ll see if the toss can be done away with totally or at least partially.

 

Interestingly, doing away with the toss would be the most easier option in the IPL itself, irrespective of my or your opinion about its utility, because the tournament engages 8-10 teams where each team plays each two times on a double-robin basis; in a 8-franchise IPL each team plays 14 matches in all at the league stage. Therefore, at the league stage one competing team should be allowed to choose fielding or batting in the first match and the same option to the opposing team in the second match and so on. In the elimination round the choice can be given based on the respective net run-rates of the two rivals. We have argued many times earlier that the ICC should adopt a similar format ideally with a double-robin where the Super-12 would be just one group like in IPL and each team would play each at least twice.  The toss can thus be tossed away as we have shown. In fact, this standard should be adopted in all ICC tournaments in all formats.

 

In Test series too that we started this piece with, the elimination of the toss is entirely possible. For example let us take a five-match Test Series between India and say England in any country of the two as a host; either India or England should be allowed to opt for bat or bowl first in the first match, followed by India having the choice in the second and till the fourth match. In the fifth and the last Test, may be the deciding one in some cases, the team with the best ICC ranking should be given the option of the choice. In 2 or 6-match Test series there is no problem at all. This can very well work for all bilateral and international Test and ODI (one-day international) tournaments. And naturally, for both Men’s and Women’s cricket.

 

Tossing away the practice of the toss would pave the way for a more egalitarian encounters in the glorious gentlemen’s (gentlewoman’s too) game of cricket. This would never put any team at a disadvantage about which they can do just nothing. This is to make all teams equals in terms of choice, and definitely not in performances which is the game of cricket on the field based on application, dedication and mental calm demonstrated by the players. Countries have been long trying to end the stark inequalities present in both developed and underdeveloped countries and to eradicate poverty. Therefore, why not try the same in the most popular and expanding game of cricket to end the inequalities generated by the toss of a mere coin?  Why not let the coin do what it’s actually meant for?